Two-and-a-half-years after a federal advisory panel urged the government to move “without delay” to create an external management board for the RCMP made up of eminent Canadians who could champion “reform and continuous improvement” within the force, the Conservatives have finally issued their response: It’s not necessary.

Advocates say Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ rejection of the idea puts the force at risk of becoming too insular in its thinking and not being able to bring about true cultural change that the force’s leaders have vowed to bring in the wake of the harassment and other scandals.

“It’s about changing the culture to prevent the likelihood of this occurring in the first place,” said Liberal Sen. Grant Mitchell, who is a member of a Senate committee that is expected to issue a report soon on harassment issues within the RCMP.

Mitchell noted that just about every major police force in Canada has some form of a civilian board or commission.

“You need to bring a breath of fresh air from outside, to get a different perspective to reflect the public and community more aggressively.”

The RCMP Reform Implementation Council urged the government to do just that in its final report in December 2010.

Chaired by Ontario lawyer David McAusland, the council wrote that a new approach to governance of the force — one that “opens the way to outside advice and provides an external challenge to executive decision-making” — would help to bring about significant improvements to the force’s values and ethics.

The council envisioned a board made up of experts from the public and private sectors who could serve as a “sounding board for exploring ideas about future directions,” add credibility to the force, and resolve issues “before they boil over.”

A similar recommendation was made by the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP in 2007. Ontario lawyer David Brown, the task force’s chair, said at the time the force’s rank-and-file members were struggling under the “tremendous burden of an inefficient and inappropriately structured organization.”

A new civilian board would be responsible for “overall stewardship of the organization,” including oversight of financial affairs, resources and personnel, he said.

On April 22, the government finally announced its position on the idea.

Appearing before a Senate committee examining Bill C-42, legislation aimed at improving RCMP accountability, the public safety minister said the creation of a separate board of management was unnecessary and would “only create unnecessary redundancies and complications in the RCMP’s accountability and oversight structures.”

Toews’ remarks — made on a day when media lenses were fixed on breaking news that two men had been nabbed in connection with an alleged plot to derail a VIA Rail passenger train — were first reported earlier this week in the Toronto Star.

Asked for their reaction to the government’s rejection of one of their key recommendations, Brown and McAusland both declined to comment.

Former RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, who had spoken out in support of civilian oversight before leaving the force in 2011, said in an interview this week he wasn’t surprised at the government’s decision given how much time has passed and “nothing’s happened” to act on the recommendations.

“Many had commented — and I certainly commented when I was commissioner — that I never worked for a more bureaucratic organization. We saw (the proposed governance changes) as a way to streamline a lot of things,” he said.

Elliott, the first-ever civilian appointed to the commissioner’s job, acknowledged that the proposed changes are not easy to implement and there are alternative ways to administer the force more efficiently and effectively.

That said, he continues to “believe that the RCMP has to take concrete action not to be insular and to look for advice from a variety of sources, including independent and external sources.”

Bob Paulson, the current RCMP commissioner, did not respond to a request for comment. However, force spokeswoman Sgt. Julie Gagnon confirmed Paulson does not think a civilian management board is necessary.

“The RCMP continues to advance in its effort to change the culture and be more accountable,” she said.